The Arts Unit Creative Teachers

The High Road

Music lessons using The High Road from the Festival of Instrumental Music 2023

Student music resource developed by The Arts Unit in consultation with Kay Taylor

Kindergarten to Year 6 music

About this resource

This resource is designed to accompany The High Road from the NSW Department of Education’s annual Festival of Instrumental Music (FoIM) for 2023, as hosted by The Arts Unit.

The activities in this resource are designed to extend and share the opportunity and experiences of students engaging with the festival with other students within their school community. This will enable all K to 6 students within a school to engage with The High Road: one of the pieces of repertoire from the festival.

These teaching and learning experiences are aligned to syllabus outcomes from the Creative Arts K-6 Syllabus (2006) and are designed to be adapted by teachers to suit their contexts and the learning needs of all students.

The Arts Unit would like to thank Kay Taylor and her students at Padstow Park Public School for their assistance in making the videos that accompany this resource.

Nine students hold hands dancing in a circle. Each holds a different coloured piece of fabric in their hand.

Students from Padstow Park Public School

Unit overview

In each unit, students will be inspired by the music of The High Road to:

listen and respond to the music through movement and dance
explore beat and rhythm through body percussion and drumming
perform to the music of The High Road.

Unit duration

K to 2: 3 lessons (approximately 3 to 4 weeks)
3 to 6: 3 lessons (approximately 3 to 4 weeks)

Assessment overview

Teachers should differentiate the way students are able to demonstrate their knowledge, skills and understandings by embedding opportunities for multi-modal ways of responding during assessment tasks.

Some students, including those with disability, may require adjustments to assessment practices in order to demonstrate what they know, understand and can do in relation to syllabus outcomes and content. The type of adjustments and support will vary according to the individual needs of the student and the requirements of the task.

Resource sections

This resource is comprised of 2 units (3 lessons per unit) and 2 teacher information pages.

Select the unit of lessons (K to 2 or 3 to 6) that best matches the age group of your students.
Select the teacher information pages for additional information and supporting materials.